Feeding nipple construction



United States Patent FEEDING NIPPLE CONSTRUCTION Emile V. Perreault, East Providence, R. I., assignor to Dave] Rubber Company, a corporation of Rhode Island Application May 28, 1953, Serial No. 358,123

Claims. (Cl. 128-252) The present invention relates to nurser arrangements for feeding infants, and has particular reference to a novel construction for a feeding nipple.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a feeding nipple for small mouth nurser bottles having a continuously open air vent passage.

Another object of the invention is to provide an elongated air vent passage in a feeding nipple which permits entry of air into the nurser but prevents leakage of fluid therefrom.

A further object is to provide a feeding nipple of the type having an internal recess for receiving the rim of a nursing bottle neck, with a spiral rib air vent arrangement.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a nursing bottle top having a nipple of the novel construction mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section of the nipple on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, parts being broken away;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail showing the nipple mounted on a bottle neck rim.

It has been found desirable to provide a continuously open air vent for a nurser of the small mouth bottle type, in which the bottle neck rim is received in an interior recess of the nipple body. Although various arrangements of ribs and recesses have been devised for this purpose, it has been found that the resiliency of the rubber body of the nipple and its normal stretching when mounted on the bottle neck rim have created difiieulties in that the dimensions of the rib or groove must be closely controlled beyond the limits of standard manufacturing facilities, as a rib or groove which is sufficiently large enough to provide an adequate air vent passage when the nipple is on the bottle is also large enough to permit leakage of fluid from the bottle. I have found, however, that a greatly elongated fine rib provides a substantial length of travel for the fluid and prevents fluid leakage while freely permitting entry of atmospheric air, and I have determined that a desirable arrangement for such an elongated rib is a spiral or helical form, does not need to be too citical in dimensions and can therefore be readily commercially manufactured.

Referring to the drawings, the nurser includes a small mouth nursing bottle 11 and a feeding nipple 12. The bottle has the usual neck 13 with a rim 14, and the nipple has the usual hollow body portion 15, neck 16, and generally spherical tip 17, the tip being of slightly greater diameter than the neck and having one or more feeding openings 18.

The illustrated nipple is of the type shown in Little Patent No. 2,520,157, the body portion being connected to the neck by an annular portion 19 of generally triangular cross section, with its inner edge depending downwardly as illustrated to provide a tongue 20 adapted to extend into the bottle rim. The body portion has an inwardly extending annular flange or bead 21, whereby an annular recess 22 is provided between the tongue, the

2,699,169 Patented Jan. 11, 1955 lower surface 23 of the annular portion 19, the inner wall 24 of the body portion, and the upper surface 25 of the bead 21, for receiving the bottle neck rim 14 of the nursing bottle 11, the inner surface 26 of the bead being cylindrical to engage the bottle neck. The lower surface 27 of the bead 21 is preferably bevelled as illustrated to facilitate mounting the nipple on the bottle, an outwardly extending finger tab 28 being provided at the lower end of the body portion and having a finger receiving depression 29 in its upper surface, for aiding the mounting operamen. I

An air vent rib 30 of generally helical shape extends radially across the lower surface 23 of the annular portion, around the inner wall 24 of the body portion, and radially over the upper surface 25, the inner surface 26 and the bevelled lower surface 27 of the bead 21. When the nipple is mounted on the bottle, the wall of the body portion is stretched and the rib 30 flattens, whereby small air passages 31 are formed at each side of the rib 30 as shown in Fig. 4, the air passages 31 being large enough to admit air to the bottle interior but being of such great length and narrow cross section as to effectively prevent leakage of fluid therethrough.

Although I have disclosed a specific constructional feature of my invention, it is obvious that changes in the size, shape and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A nipple of flexible material having a cylindrical body portion, a neck and a feeding tip, the body portion being connected to the neck by an annular portion of generally triangular cross section, the inner edge of the annular portion depending downwardly to provide a tongue, an annular bead extending inwardly from the lower end of the body portion, and an air vent rib extending across the lower surface of the annular portion, helically around the inner surface of the body portion, and across the upper surface of the annular bead, and the inner surface of the annular bead.

2. A nipple of flexible material having a cylindrical body portion, a neck and a feeding tip, the body portion being connected to the neck by an annular portion of generally triangular cross section, the inner edge of the annular portion depending downwardly to provide a tongue, an annular bead extending inwardly from the lower end of the body portion and having a bevelled lower surface, and an air vent rib extending across the lower surface of the annular portion, helically around the inner surface of the body portion, and across the upper surface of the annular bead, the inner surface of the annular bead, and the bevelled lower surface.

3. A nipple of flexible material having a cylindrical body portion, a neck, and a feeding tip, said body portion having an annular interior recess for detachably receiving a bottle neck rim, said recess having an upper wall, an inner wall and a lower wall, and a continuous fine rib having a portion extending helically over the inner wall and having terminal portions extending over the upper and lower wall.

4. In the structure of claim 3, the helical portion including a turn greater than 360 degrees.

5. In the structure of claim 4, said helical portion having at least two turns.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,173,176 Coombs Feb. 29, 1916 1,725,166 Spanier Aug. 20, 1929 2,043,718 Tauf June 9, 1936 2,196,870 Little Apr. 9, 1940 2,520,157 Little Aug. 29, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 621,245 Great Britain Apr. 6, 1949 998,099 France Sept. 19, 1951 

